I’ve been lacking a little bit of motivation when it comes to my training of Buddy. With so much being cancelled, I’ve lost my competition mojo somewhat. It’s hard to keep focused when you don’t have any goals or things to aim for.

I miss competing. I know it’s not for everyone. For me it’s a good way of tracking our progress.

So I took my own advice and broke out the jumping books to find some exercises to try. Came up with this! It worked really well and definitely helped up to keep focused and work on our turns.

Gosh it was proper frosty this morning. I wasn’t expecting that I can tell you. Thank goodness for the beautiful sunshine.

Today is the first day in a while I haven’t been rushing around. Took advantage of that to stop and enjoy the view for a bit with my morning coffee. And a lovely hack out on Buddy.

Got some really good news today too! The whistle boards are coming down on 10 December. I can’t quite believe it’s going to happen. I’m so looking forward to being able to have a peaceful day without the disturbance of the horns.

Well today was my first shift at Tesco and my face is sore from smiling all day.

Muscle memory is a wonderful thing. It all came back to me and the lady training me couldn’t believe it was my first day. She was very impressed with my scanner speed.

I spent most of the shift without supervision too. I met some lovely people. There were happy customer, chatty customers and very few grumpy ones.

I’m tired. But a good tired. The kind from doing good stuff.

It’s been a rather long week. I’ve driven 640 miles in my lorry. I’ve had lots of meetings. I’ve ridden Buddy. I’m not complaining as it’s all good stuff. And I love being busy.

No rest for me today as I had my induction at Tesco’s. I applied for festive work to get me out of the house and spending time with people. After a break of over 30 years, tomorrow I will be back on the tills.

Tonight I’ve made my lounge cozy and toasty. Fire lit, dinner in the oven and Strictly. Then an early night for me.

Today has been all about coaching. I’ve done lots of sessions today. It’s so rewarding. One of the sessions was a ‘walk & talk’. Saw this tree while we were out. Some people may only see the damage. I see the beautiful within. A good metaphor for coaching me thinks.

Odin looked rather dashing in the lunchtime sunshine. Wish it had been like that when Beth and I went for our hack. Still at least it was dry. Well for the most part.

Today I have been to Wales and back. To pick up a horse. Not for me, for a friend.

Knew it would be a long day. But was made a bit longer as sadly my little lorry got a flat on the M6. My breakdown cover with NFU was brilliant. They had a lovely man out to us with a new tyre in just over an hour.

Thankfully it was on the way there and not when I had a horse onboard.

I love Richard Osman’s House of Games. It’s always on my planner. I was chatting about it today and mentioned that I went to school with Richard. Here he is in our Fifth Year photo (1986-7). His Mum was my music teacher too.

And I knew his brother Mat who was in Suede. Small world huh?!

So this gorgeous creature has been with me for 4 years now. It’s absolutely flown by.

This year we haven’t exactly achieved much. We’ve grown a stronger bond that’s for sure.

In some ways we’ve achieved so much more than I ever dreamed in those 4 years. In others we haven’t achieved much.

I’ve met so many new people since I’ve had him. He has quite the fan club. I’m definitely his biggest fan. Even if he is an idiot some days. He’s my idiot and I don’t think I could love him anymore if I tried.

He is, and will always be, My Absolute Diamond.

Happy anniversary Buddy!

I’d blocked out the weekend to trim hedges, mow the lawn and generally tidy up the garden. The weather put pay to that. So much rain. Again.

My cotoneaster has embraced Autumn overnight. So in a way I’m glad I didn’t get to trim it back. I’d have missed this stunning display.